In April, eighteen members of the History Group went to Sheringham, to have a guided tour of the museum. The museum, on three floors, is an independent charity and is run by volunteers. The museum is surprisingly big and varied. There are displays of lifeboats, local trades and shops, knitted ganseys(fishermen’s jumpers), Olive Edis’ photography studio and on the top floor is the Windscape Visitor Centre for the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farms. During our visit there was an exhibition entitled, ‘The Sticher, The Photographer and The Painter’, which highlighted the work of three great artists from Sheringham’s past.
In May fifteen members of the group went on a walk around Historic Colegate with Paul Dickson. The area has a phenomenal history from the Danes arriving in Norwich in the late 880s to shoe factories in the late 19th and early 20th century. We even discovered a public right of way (Water Lane),unknown to even members born and bred in the area. The tour ended with tea in the Maids Head.
The Octagon Unitarian Chapel, designed by Thomas Ivory,
was completed in 1756 in the English Neo- Palladian style.
John Wesley visited it and said it was the finest chapel in Europe.
It is open to the public on Fridays between 11am and 1pm.
In June eight of the group visited the Time & Tide Museum. The tour by our guide, Stuart Burgess, made the visit special, even for those of us who had visited the museum before. The museum is in the former Tower Herring Curing Works, which is a grade II listed building and had closed for business in 1989. The museum finally opened in 2004, after a lot of work and fund raising. Great Yarmouth’s greatest importance was in acting as a port for Norwich and Stuart was keen to point out that herring fishing was only a small part of the commercial activity of the town, with a very short season.
At the height of the autumn fishing industry over 6000 Scottish fisher girls worked in Great Yarmouth during the herring season. The girls were part of the production line; gutting and salting the herring to preserve them.
Future activities:
July – Gressenhall Workhouse tour. August – No meeting
September – Blue Plaque Walk in Norwich.
October – Talk on Edith Cavell in Ashmanhaugh.
November – Pavillion Theatre, Gorleston, tour
Pauline Wright Marchant